Secrets
by Amiyuu
Summary: Haruhi was different on account that she was the only commoner in the whole school. Or so everyone thought. When she gets sick of secrets, she spills all, effectively messing up the hosts' lives. Though maybe that was for the best. NEW CHAPTER!
1. Prologue

**Hi! To be blunt, this is my first fanfic though I've written normal stories before. Which is why my writing style may change as the story develops..if the story develops. -clears throat-**

**CC is welcome, and so is any other type of help. Oh, and reviews are my life source so please keep me alive. I don't really want to see what the afterlife is like just yet ^.^;;**

**Also, this story does have a pairing, though not necessarily the one that's implied in the beginning. I do have a pair in mind but I'll only tell once the plot develops. And the plot will only develop if I get enough assurance which is in the form of... yes, you guessed it! Reviews! **

**Disclaimer : This will apply to all future chapters I write; I do not own OHSHC. If I did, I probably wouldn't be writing this.**

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**~Prologue~**

It was raining heavily outside. For the tenth time, Haruhi sighed. The rain was so boring. Especially in the middle of the night when she couldn't sleep. She turned slightly when she heard a scrapping sound behind her. Catching a glimpse of a short person with black hair peeking around the door of her room, she smiled.

Gesturing for the newcomer to join her, she turned around to look out the window again as she fumed over some things in her mind.

"Haruhi, is something wrong?" a childish voice asked her timidly. She looked at the boy of around ten perched on the window seat next to her and shook her head. A thought came to her.

"Sweetie, could you do something for me tomorrow?" she asked with a smile that told of hidden intentions. At the nod from the boy, her smile broke into a grin. She thanked him with a hug and moved over to her bed.

After crawling under the covers she beckoned for the child to follow her. "You came here because you couldn't sleep, right?" He smiled slightly and got under the covers with her. Snuggling up to her side, he whispered a good night and fell asleep within a few minutes of closing his eyes.

In the meantime, Haruhi was still awake, her eyes centered on the ceiling of her room but not really focused on anything. As she ran through her plans for the next day, she couldn't help but chuckle slightly. She knew there were a lot of things that could go wrong. But then, that was the same with everything. It was about time she stopped keeping secrets, time she found her childhood again.

Turning her head slightly to plant a soft kiss on the sleeping boy's forehead, she too whispered a good night and closed her eyes, urging sleep to come.

**Ootori Mansion**

Kyoya tossed in his sleep. He had wanted sleep to come fast earlier but if he had a choice now, he would rather be awake. His dream probably couldn't be classified as a nightmare. But he still didn't like the feelings he had whenever he thought of _her_. Of _that time. _Truth be told, he'd be happier not feeling at all.

"Don't worry, nii-san," the soft lilting voice of the chocolate-eyed girl in front of him broke through his mind's hell and chased away the demons.

For now.

He dreaded to think what would happen to him if - when she left. This small person (who wasn't really that much smaller than his 9 year old self ; yes, this is his childhood he's dreaming about) who was as important to his world as night and day was to the world outside was the only thing that could make him forget. Forget that he will one day have to compete with his brothers for the title of "Ootori Heir" and make him feel… normal. Like a normal 9 year old.

"After all, I can come back as soon as Grandmama becomes better which shouldn't take too long," she continued, unaware of his internal suffering.

Or maybe she knew. She was similar to him in many ways. One of the reasons why they were so close was because she was the only one whose IQ was on par with his and they could spend hours just arguing over the Chaos Theory and God only knew what else.

When this started, most adults tended to leave the room for fear of being asked something by one of them only to be embarrassed.

She was also very _very _intuitive and noticed things that even he failed to sometimes. Or things that he tried to hide. He was a good liar but she made his attempts at lying seem like a cheesy rendition of a 70's soap opera.

He smiled softly. While his mind chased it's tail, she had been babbling on about sending him an e-mail as soon as she got there and made him promise to keep in touch no matter what.

She stopped mid-sentence when someone called her. She turned around, her long black hair brushing against Kyoya's face lightly.

"I'll see you soon, nii-san." She smiled up at her adopted brother. "Wait for me, ne? We're still not done with the Physics Theory and I'm not letting you win."

Despite the sad occasion and the fact that he was losing his best friend, he managed an amused laugh. He ruffled up her hair and grinned down at her face.

"We both know I'm right, there is no way Einstein would have overlooked anything. Least of all Solstices," he said, rolling his eyes as if the very thought was ridiculous.

She stuck her tongue out at him and started to say something when they heard her name again. She smiled at Kyoya and turned around, running to the adult in front of the limo just outside the gate.

She didn't bother saying good bye and neither did he.

After all, she wasn't going away for long.


	2. Tammy

**Ahaha, finally an update. This took longer than I intended. It was supposed to be done in about a week but then my computer crashed so I had to rewrite. -_-**

**Anyway, I'm not going to go into a lenghty speech so please, review! Hope you enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer :: The usual applies.**

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_She smiled at Kyoya and turned around, running to the adult in front of the limo just outside the gate._

_She didn't bother saying good bye and neither did he._

_After all, she wasn't going away for long. _

**Eight years later**

It was a warm summer's day. Outside that is. Inside the Third Music room of Ouran High School, the air-conditioning made sure people forgot that there was an 'outside' to worry about. The famed Host Club had just shut down for the day a while ago and now they were cleaning up the place.

Or rather, Haruhi was.

As she walked towards the kitchenette carrying a strategically piled stack of plates, cups and saucers, she drew to a halt when she heard her name from behind. She turned as much as she could without dropping the pile in her arms that would no doubt cost her both arms that she had on at that time.

Unsurprisingly, Tamaki and the twins were making a dash for her from across the room.

Here we go again, she thought with a slight sigh.

She waited for the three to be within jumping distance from her and then to launch themselves at her.

In the split second before they came into contact with her, she took a step back causing them to crash to the floor in a painful tangle of legs, arms and bodies.

Smiling slightly, she resumed her journey to the kitchenette.

"Haruhi! That was mean!" The three had untangled themselves just as she put the pile down on the counter in the kitchenette.

Now free of her burden, she turned and eyed the three young men in front of her.

"You know well enough that I can't afford to break things that could cost me my arms, legs, and God only knew what else." Was the retort she gave.

"But you didn't have to step away. You could have just…"

"…stepped away? Gee, Hikaru, what a wonderful idea. I'll remember that next time." Haruhi said, her voice dripping sarcasm and dryness.

The older Hitachiin blushed slightly. Not because Haruhi had just insulted his intelligence. In fact, it probably didn't even register. No, he was blushing because Haruhi could still tell it was him even though he and Kaoru had changed hair partings earlier.

"But Haruhi! As your father, I have a right to hug you as much as I want! Plus, a hug makes everyone feel better." Tamaki said, attempting to slither closer so he could hug her.

A soft haunting melody twisted its way around the room just as the King finished his sentence. Surprised, everyone started looking around for the source of it.

Haruhi wondered why it sounded vaguely familiar.

"Haru-chan! Haru-chan!" She looked to where Honey was standing just inside the door to the Third Music room. He was staring curiously at the brown thing that was her school bag.

Her eyes widened and she walked over to her bag, silently wondering why she was getting the call.

Rummaging inside her bag, she pulled out a slim, sleek, expensive-looking black phone and muttered something under her breath when she saw the caller ID.

"Hello? Ah, yes, it's me." She said, as she turned away from the six boys straining (though not visibly) to eavesdrop on the conversation without actually snatching the phone from her.

"Kaoru?"

"Yeah. Where do you think she got it from?"

"What on earth are you two talking about??" Tamaki was slightly bewildered by the twins' speculative gaze on the back of his beloved daughter.

The said redheads exchanged a look and a shrug before answering him.

"It's obvious, Milord. That's not the phone we got her."

"It isn't?"

They rolled their eyes. Trust Tamaki to be this observant. "No, the one we bought her was a different colour."

"And a different model," Honey piped up from somewhere below their waists.

Nodding thoughtfully, Kyoya studied the back of the Host Club's Princess, his spectacles flashing. "It could be that someone else bought it for her."

"Yeah, like a boyfriend," the twins said slyly, identical smirks crossing their faces in anticipation.

Their Lord didn't fail them.

His eyes widened to a point where they made him look like he was being strangled by something invisible and he opened his mouth to say those predictable words...

"WHAT?!"

His mouth snapped shut. That was supposed to have come out of his mouth but the voice wasn't his. The small group turned to the brunette whose back was still facing them. She seemed much more tense now though.

"What do you mean he's coming here?! Now?? That's impossible, you told me yourself that he can't come in here!" she had started to pace frantically around in circles, chewing on her bottom lip. "You've got to stop him. You know as well as I do that if he sets foot in here it'll be trouble. We've got to-"

_BAM! _

The door to the room was slammed open. Haruhi tensed even more if that was even possible. Instinctively, the boys moved to block her from whoever or whatever just slammed the door open.

A young man in his early twenties was standing in the doorway panting. He shoved chocolate blonde hair out of green eyes that were combing the vast room frantically for something. He looked as though he had run a marathon, the first button of his black shirt was undone and his tie hung loosely around his neck. His sleeves were rolled up untidily to reveal strong, tanned arms.

Kyoya silently thanked God that club hours were over. If the crazed fangirls had been there, all hell would break loose.

"Tammy! Where's Tammy??" he nearly shouted in his distress at not finding whatever it was he was looking for. He grabbed for the nearest person, who happened to be Tamaki.

"I know she's in here! She couldn't have left so early. Where are you hiding her??" Tamaki sweat-dropped. He couldn't help wondering if this man was a bit wrong in the head, to put it nicely.

A sharp voice rang out from behind them just as the man was about to shake Tamaki by his collar and demand to see 'Tammy' again.

"Adrian, stop it!"

Adrian whipped around, mouth open to fire whoever it was who interrupted him. He stopped short and his eyes widened slightly. Haruhi was leaning casually against the now closed door, arms and feet crossed. But her expression told a different story.

If looks could kill.. Kyoya thought, slightly amused by what he had witnessed so far. He was also trying to ignore the feelings the name Tammy seemed to stir in him. He would be happier if they stayed buried, the feelings.

Adrian's hand flew to his mouth, stifling a moan as he realized what he'd just done.

"H-Haruhi, hi. Didn't see you there when I came in." He laughed nervously, hoping beyond hope that Haruhi wouldn't kill him for his mess up.

She smiled grimly. Apparently, his hopes were not meant to be realized. "Out. Now."

He scampered after her and after they left, the only sound in the room for some time to come was the soft click as the door swung back into place.

The Host Club, for once, were speechless. Nothing of what happened made sense to any of them. This was why they decided that the best course of action was an ancient technique. A proven yet simple method to understanding the situation.

They rushed to the door and pressed their ears against it, for once cursing the fact that the door had to be made of such good quality, thick wood.

Luckily for them, they could hear the conversation because the empty halls outside echoed.

"What do you think you're doing here?" The sharpness in Haruhi's voice hadn't gone away.

"I-I had to. It's important and I couldn't get you on your phone."

"Well, what is it? Did you tell anyone else you were coming here or did you just rush out of the office again?"

Adrian cleared his throat as an answer.

Haruhi sighed loudly. "Then whatever it is, it had better be important."

That was the last thing the six behind the door could hear.

"Milord, what do you think they're talking about?" asked the twins who had sidled up behind him.

Tamaki shrugged, trying to make sense of everything. His eyes widened and he snapped his fingers. "I know! Haruhi's real father is in trouble!"

There was a chorus of gasps around him.

"Ne, Hikaru, don't you think it's weird Milord actually came up with something so… probable?" Kaoru asked his double in a stage whisper.

In reply, he got a glare from said overdramatic blonde.

The door opened again and the small group of boys rushed to where Haruhi was standing, her anger almost gone.

"Guys, I have to go back. I'll do the cleaning up tomorrow or you can just add it to my debt." Adrian got her bag while she was talking then stood next to her looking rather sheepish.

"I-uh I'm sorry about the trouble earlier." He ran a hand through his already dishevelled hair. "It's just that I tend to get a little too overdramatic when I'm unsettled as I've been told often." He smiled down almost tenderly at Haruhi who was grinning mischievously up at him.

The twins and Tamaki sucked in their breaths. Could this man be…? No, no, there is no way this man could be Haruhi's boyfriend.

The two turned around and waved as they walked off. A little way down the corridor, aware of the six pairs of eyes trailing after them, Adrian snaked an arm around Haruhi's neck and whispered something in her ear with a smile on his face. Haruhi laughed and turned to plant a kiss on his cheek. She was going to be in for hell tomorrow but she couldn't help herself. It was too fun teasing her friends.

**Ootori Mansion**

That night Kyoya was sitting at his desk attempting to finish his homework but unfortunately, a pair of big brown eyes kept distracting him.

Sighing, he put his pen down and let his memories take over.

FLASHBACK 

_This was the last letter he would be getting from her. Though he hadn't known that when he had eagerly snatched it off the stand they had in the hall for letters. He had run up to his room, ignoring his father's calls to go into the breakfast parlour. _

_Sitting on his bed, he tore the envelope open and pulled out the lengthy letter inside. It smelled of dew, a smell he had always associated with her. Her neat cursive handwriting filled three pages. He began reading as though it was his lifeline._

_After reading it, his joy at receiving a letter from her after so long had faded into shock and dismay. She was usually very detailed in her letters and she still called him nii-san after all these years. This time, even though the pet name still stuck, he could sense that there was something wrong. Three pages of tales, all ending with news that tore his 14-year-old heart apart. _

_Her parting words would haunt him for months to come, and though no changes will be seen on the outside, inside, this young man had learned something valuable._

_Hope was just a waste of time._

_"I know I promised to come back, and I will. But right now, I'm needed here and until the next time we meet, I cannot contact you. I'm sorry if this sounds cold, nii-san, but believe me when I tell you in all honesty that this is for the best." _

_ XXX,_

_ T_

END FLASHBACK

Kyoya sighed again and blinked a few times to get rid of that annoying stinging feeling in his eyes. Ever since then, he'd managed to keep himself detached from people, even Tamaki, to a certain extend.

Until she had come. She was so much like her, that brunette. When he first saw her, he was shocked to see their resemblance. He had wondered about it but had dismissed it after digging around a bit.

There was no connection between the two. Nothing but their personalities and appearance were similar. And with that knowledge, he had felt the hope, the one feeling he had promised to keep under lock and key dwindle again, leaving him with a hollowness that he was very familiar with.

He got up and walked over to his desk. Pulling out the key he wore around his neck, he unlocked the last drawer and slowly pulled it open. He was hit by a waft of dew, soft and haunting. He stared at the stack of letters piled neatly inside. Next to them was another stack of photo. These, he pulled out, looking at each, savouring the sweet memories that came to him when he saw her with that beautiful smile on her face.

Too soon, he reached the last photo. This was his favourite and he spent a long time just looking at it. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and her face peeped out from his left shoulder. Her smile was even more dazzling and even after all this time, he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face when he thought of her laughing.

He put the photos back into their drawer. There they would stay until she came back.

**One week later**

The Host Club was proceeding as usual. Though the number of guests were less, since Haruhi had claimed to be too sick to attend today. Many of the girls commented on this, saying that Haruhi had actually seemed pale ever since the beginning of the week. It didn't surprise them then, when the King announced that their "Natural Rookie" wasn't available today.

Kyoya and Mori were both free, as neither were as popular as the others due to their quiet (and scary) nature. The two dark-haired Hosts sat at a table, a little way from the other tables where their friends were entertaining guests.

Mori's nose was glued to a thick book that he was reading at an alarming speed while Kyoya, being Kyoya, was typing away on his Pineapple laptop. For some time, the only sounds heard at the table were the clicking of keys being pressed and the occasional flip of paper as Mori turned a page.

The general noise in the room dimmed a bit when the door opened. Both tenants of the table did not look up as they had not heard anything.

Being hospitable as ever, Tamaki walked (or strutted, whichever you wish) over to the door and pulled it open completely, revealing the small figure standing there to the whole room.

There were audible gasps as everyone took in the appearance of the girl. She was not a student from Ouran, that was obvious from the lack of the yellow, puffy-sleeved uniform donned by the girls. Instead, she had on a stylish pair of black hip jeans with a silver studded belt. She wore a plain t-shirt that was short enough to reveal a bit of her midriff. Over that, she wore a simple faded denim half jacket.

Tamaki couldn't stop staring. Neither could any of the other Hosts (those that were paying attention). She looked just like Haruhi. Although, this girl had black hair instead of the dirty brown locks that the cross-dressing girl had. She also had on spectacles that looked a lot like the ones Kyoya wore. Everything else about her face was similar though. Even her height was the same!

Belatedly realizing that he was staring open-mouthed at the gorgeous girl in front of him like a moron, Tamaki cleared his throat, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Welcome, princess. How can the Host Club help you?" he gave her his most dazzling smile.

By now, aware of the lack of noise in the room, the two dark-haired boys sitting by themselves had turned to where all the attention was centered. There was a cluster of girls 'ooh-ing' at something. Kyoya got up to go see what was happening when the 'something' the girls were admiring pushed through the group of girls.

Kyoya sat back down. Actually, he fell back down but we all know that Kyoya's more elegant than that. Her eyes scanned the room until they locked with a pair of shocked black eyes.

This couldn't be happening, the bespectacled boy thought almost frantically. He had gotten no warning, no notice at all. He tried to calm himself down. No use losing control in front of all these people, he reasoned silently. He couldn't get rid of the shock in his eyes though. Nor the growing hope in his heart. Maybe... just maybe...

Her lips split into a grin and he was catapulted back in time to when they were still young and could afford to forget everything else. Everything in the room seemed to fade away into the background as she walked towards him. Stopping in front of him, the grin still on her face, she stared up into the glassy eyes of her best friend. She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him. His first hug since she had left years ago.

"I'm back, nii-san," she whispered softly, so that only those who were close by could hear her.

Shaking out of his trance, he slipped his arms around her as well and buried his face in her shoulder, fighting vainly to stop the stream of tears that threatened to spill out when he recognised the scent of dew on her skin. Once he'd gotten them in check, he straightened up again, a soft smile on his face. "It's good to know you still keep your promises, Tammy."

Someone behind them cleared their throat. The moment was lost as Kyoya looked up to see Tamaki standing nearby with the rest of the Host Club behind him. Being the romantic that he was, he had declared that the Host Club would be closed early as soon as he saw the two of them look at each other, causing a lot of moaning and complaining from those who wanted to see what was going on between the newcomer and the Shadow King.

The idiot was grinning like a...well...idiot.

Suddenly self-concious, he begin to pull away, only to have her put a hand on his to stop him. He looked at her quizzically and she smiled up at him. "Nii-san, I need to tell all of you something."

"What is it?" he asked, not really caring since all that mattered was that she was there. She let go of his arm and turned to face the rest of the room.

Her voice was quiet but it rang throughout the room. "I'm Tammy, Kyoya's friend-"

"Of course you are! Why, I've never seen Kyoya smile like that and I've known him for several years now." Tamaki babbled. He was happy for his friend. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong time to show it.

"Milord, shut up will you? You interrupted the princess and you're the one who insists on good manners," the twins chimed.

Tamaki blushed and mumbled something in French under his breath. Tammy burst out laughing, drawing the gaze of all six boys there. She stopped and her smile was wobbly, as though she was trying to control her laughter. "Guys, it's me."

That confused them. They stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate.

"Haruhi. I'm Haruhi. Or rather, Tamora Haruhi Brooks." She said, rolling her eyes at the stupidity of her friends.

"WHAT?!?" they stared at her, shocked and speechless. Ignoring the others, she turned to Kyoya who was a little less surprised than the others but was still pretty ruffled. "I'm surprised you didn't figure it out, nii-san. I thought it would be pretty obvious." She said, laughter evident in her voice.

Waking up from his stupor, Kaoru spoke up tentatively, "Haruhi, you mean you're not really a commoner?" Haruhi shook her head.

"Then Ranka-san and your mother.." Hikaru trailed off, unable to come to terms with the fact that Haruhi was in actual fact the daughter of one of the most powerful men – no, scratch that, the most powerful man in this day, Darren Brooks. The Brooks family was also an ancient family, their history going back to when before World War II.

"My mother, I didn't lie about. She died when I was young and Ranka is her brother, my uncle and Godfather. Which technically makes him my dad." She said, secretly enjoying the shock on the faces of her friends yet slightly worried to how they will react.

"Haru-chan, why didn't you tell us before?" Honey asked.

The smile on her face faded. She looked at the floor, suddenly finding the plain white tiles extremely interesting. "I couldn't,"she mumbled.

"Why?"

She looked at them again, her gazed roving over each and everyone of them.

"Because I didn't want my best friend to lose everything he had." She said softly.


	3. Haruhi

**Sorry to everyone who waited so long for me to continue! I had to take a break for exams and then I had writer's block -_-**

**I don't think that this new chapter is very well written but I can't really be sure. Reviews and criticism are extremely welcome. (:**

**I have a break coming up soon so I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to put up more chapters within a shorter time span if all goes to plan. **

**Hope you enjoy the read! **

**Disclaimer :: Read – Prologue chapter.**

The blank stares and bewildered "Huh?"s she got from everyone in the room told her just how much of her last sentence they understood. She couldn't help the smile that threatened to develop into laughter. She sobered up pretty quick though. She had an appointment in an hour and she couldn't afford to waste much time.

She sighed and said, "Get some chairs, guys. This is going to take a while."

Without wasting any time asking questions, they moved over to the set of couches and pulled up enough chairs for all of them. Then they turned to her expectantly.

She played with her fingers for some time, trying to find appropriate words. She pulled in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Tell me what you know about me."

The six boys looked at each other in surprise. They weren't expecting this. She looked from her hands when no one spoke. "Well?"

"Do you mean 'you' as in Haruhi or Tamora Brooks?" Honey voiced the question on all their minds.

"Tamora Brooks."

This brought a lot of whispering, nods, shaking of heads, and signing on the twins' part. Frustrated, she was just about to tell them that she had to be somewhere in an hour when Kaoru spoke up.

"Your name doesn't have 'Haruhi' in it." She grinned. These people were so predictable.

"What else?"

"Your family is richer than mine." Kyoya wouldn't be able to get a good night's sleep without saying something so impersonal, Haruhi thought wryly.

"You're the best when it comes to electronics, right Takashi?"

"Ah."

"You've hardly ever appeared to the public."

"And when you do, it's just to make a statement or refute one then you disappear again."

When they stopped listing things they knew about her, she knew that that was all they knew. She sighed internally. She'd have to tell them all about her now. Even Kyoya.

"I suppose I have to tell you the truth then."

Their eager nods made her smile slightly. The prospect of having to repeat her life story took the smile away.

"I was born Tamora Brooks. Haruhi was just a nickname my mom gave me because she found that saying 'Tammy' or 'Tamora' wasn't so easy if you said it often. My dad is Darren Brooks, whom all of you obviously know. My grandfather was the person who made our family rich and my dad took the family business further."

She looked at them again. "Got all of that?" The boys nodded earnestly.

"When I was old enough to walk the first thing I did was head for the workshop we had at home. Well, not really head there, more like I walked towards the door, pushed it open and tumbled down the three steps into the workshop. At that time it was empty, everyone was on lunch break. I walked over to one of the tables, pulled down a few shiny things and started playing. When everyone came back, I had just finished building my very first robot. It hardly did anything, but it could move around and carry stuff.

"Obviously, everyone was stunned. I didn't know that it wasn't normal to build stuff at my age. I just knew that it was something that was easy. Since then, I got my very own work shop and spent most of my time building machines. When I was four, I met nii-san for the first time," she turned a quick smile in his way.

"His father and mine were working on a deal and he came along to see how negotiations went on. He was bored pretty soon though and wandered off. He ended up in my work shop and came over to see what I was doing. I was pretty freaked out to see a random boy in my sanctuary, someone whom I have never seen in my life. We got on well, though, and I showed him my plans and even some of my inventions. We kept on talking, the topic kept changing and we were lost in our own little bubble until our fathers so rudely came in and broke up our conversation. They left, and I irritated my father into inviting them over again soon after that.

"We became extremely close. He was growing up immersed in numbers, stocks, and money. I grew up absorbed in designs, ideas, and life. Neither of us knew why, but we became all the more closer because of our differences." Kyoya caught the smug smile on Tamaki's face when he heard that. Maybe the blonde wasn't so ignorant after all.

"When I was five, my mother passed away. Three years later, my grandfather insisted that I go back to Canada for an indefinite time." Her voice got sadder as she got towards the end of the summary of her story.

"I had to go. He had almost all the power in the family and anyway, my grandmother was dying. She had been in critical condition since the death of my mother. So I left."

"And never came back." All eyes turned to the vice president. He almost regretted saying that but he needed answers. And he didn't want to know her life story if there weren't any answers in there for him.

"Yes. I didn't come back." Her voice was full of remorse. If only she could take it back. She knew what she was going to say would hurt him and she didn't know just how much he could take in one day.

"We exchanged letters for a few years. Then my grandfather ordered me to stop the letters." She looked down to avoid the look she wouldn't see on his face but his eyes would tell a whole story.

"I didn't have any choice in this matter either. He was dying himself, and I would receive all his shares upon his death. On the condition that I do as he told me to while he was still alive. I didn't want to stop; the letters were my only tie to my childhood. My only tie to happiness." She looked her adopted brother in the eyes before continuing.

"If I hadn't stopped the letters, he would have cut me from his will and given all his power to my uncle; my father's cousin. I was his only heir and I wasn't a guy. These don't make a good combination, as you all would know. So I had to play it safe to be able to inherit."

"Why?" She looked at him again wondering if she should lie and wait for him to find out instead of telling him straight out.

"He was…worried. I was getting nostalgic and I kept asking when I could come back to Japan to be with dad. He knew the real reason I wanted to come back and he got worried about it."

"Because I was the third son," his voice was barely audible, he was trying to hold on to his emotions; he didn't want to get angry at her after being away from her for so long. Besides, it wasn't her choice.

She nodded, not able to say anything. Eager to get this over with, she continued.

"I stayed there, hoping he'd change his mind. After another two years I was allowed to come back because my father insisted I did. There was a condition though. I wasn't allowed to reveal who I really was. Since I had the physique of a boy, he thought that playing a cross-dressing girl would definitely keep me out of suspicion. I hadn't known nii-san was in the Host Club when I came here. In fact, I didn't even know that there was a Host Club at that time." She smiled wryly.

"No one knew about the arrangements we had made. Just my father, Ranka, my grandfather and me. I changed my personal information, created a new history for myself and moved in with Ranka. Then, I enrolled as a normal student and from then on, I'm sure all of you know what happened." She let out a relieved breath. That was longer than she had thought it would take. She looked at her watch, the story had taken up forty-five minutes. Now she would have to hurry and she knew she still had a lot of questions to answer.

Before the six boys could start their bombardment, she stood up and pulled out the black phone from the week before. Punching in familiar numbers, she tapped her foot impatiently against the polished floor while she waited for the other line to pick up.

"Yeah?"

"I'm done for now, can the two of you come up here now?"

"Sure, give us a few minutes. We got lost looking around this school."

She grinned. Now they knew why she kept complaining about the size of the place for the first week of school. "Fine. Make it fast though, remember I have less than a quarter of an hour."

"Yes miss," his voice was dripping with sarcasm. She grinned again and cut the connection before he could say anything more.

"I have to go for an appointment now. I know you want your questions answered so you have two choices. One is to follow me to the appointment then back to my house. Since it's a Friday, you're all welcome to stay over if you choose to follow me. The second option is obviously the opposite of the first," she said with a small smile on her face.

"I'm free this weekend." Tamaki was the first to pipe up. She'd almost forgotten he existed, he'd been so quiet during her story.

"Me too! You're free too, right Takashi?"

"Ah."

"We were planning to fly off the the US for the weekend," Kaoru began. "But this is much more important." Hikaru finished with a wink at his brother.

Haruhi turned to Kyoya. "Nii-san?"

He pushed up his spectacles so that it caught the light and hid his eyes. Probably not intentional, but it seemed to do that everytime. "I don't have any important meetings this weekend."

Her face split into a huge grin. "Great! Ah, there they are." She said when the door opened. Haruhi turned to the two people standing just inside the door.

"I'm sure all of you remember Adrian," the smug look on her face wasn't lost on the said man.

"The guy with him is Yuri. He's technically my bodyguard but we're actually related in some weird way. So I treat him more like my little brother."

The Hosts looked up at her 'little' brother. He was at least two inches taller than Mori and had striking blue eyes that seemed to tear you apart cell by cell if you looked into them for too long. His dirty blonde hair ended just above his shoulder and was tossed wildly which gave him a naturally sexy look. Yuri's body was extremely well sculpted too. He hardly looked lanky despite his height. He had a gorgeous smile that sent a spark of mischief to his eyes. If he had been a student in Ouran, there would be no doubt that he would be recruited to join the Host Club.

He smiled at the six boys in front of him, "Hi."

Tamaki swore that if he were gay, he'd have turned into an ice cube that was put out in the sun for too long. Heck, even his voice was sexy. Before he could turn his thoughts into proper words, he picked up on the twins' not-so-quiet whispers besides him.

"Ne, Kaoru, do you think that one of them is Haruhi's boyfriend?"

"Hmm…I don't know, Hikaru. Maybe. I'd say the taller one is. He seems much more her type."

"But that Adrian guy isn't that bad. I mean, his dressing leaves much to be desired but other than that he seems a pretty decent guy."

Adrian burst out laughing. Yuri and Haruhi just grinned at each other, not bothering to refute the twins' speculation.

"The possibility of her being our girlfriend or even liking either of us is very little," Adrian said drily.

He looked at the six teenagers in front of him, scrutinizing each of them. To the surprise of the Hosts, he then sniffed with enough disdain to put any of the Queens of England to shame.

"I have no idea why, and neither does Yuri," he glared at Haruhi before continuing his sentence, "but she's interested in one of _you._" He sniffed again. All six pairs of eyes shot to Haruhi. She grinned and shrugged.

"Don't listen to him, he's a cooky old fellow. Thinks he knows everything, he does," she said in a suddenly very Americanized accent. The six let out their breaths disappointedly.

"But sometimes, he's right on the dot." Their eyes flew to her face again. She winked at them and turned to the door.

"We've spent too much time talking nonsense. I've only ten minutes and none of you have gotten your things yet. Hurry up, please. I really don't want to miss this." With that, everyone started scrambling around, grabbing their stuff.

If they were afraid that Kyoya was going to ruin their families, there was no way they weren't going to be afraid of someone who had more power in one hand than Kyoya had in his whole body.


	4. Promises

**I AM SO SORRY PEOPLE.**

**All of you are allowed to skin me alive, squeeze lemon juice all over me and then roll me in salt. Oh, and after that please R&R (:**

**Brooks Mansion; Canada, the year before**

**Haruhi's POV**

"I do not see why you want to go back to Japan so badly, Tamora." I flinched when grandpapa called me by my first name. He knew that I preferred being called Tammy or Haruhi and I think this was his way of trying to make a statement.

"I've told you, grandpapa. I want to be with dad." Sheesh, we've gone over this so many times that I'm pretty sure I could talk to myself in the exact same words.

"He visits very often. Why are you still insistent on going back?" I felt like laughing. This was getting so predictable.

Here I was, in front of his ridiculously large desk -- which I have fitted with some rather interesting stuff over the years, ( I was bored, there's not much to do here except breaking things then putting them back together.) -- having the same argument with him that we've been having for the past few months. For some reason, every time he called me in here it rained. Maybe it was some kind of sign. Or maybe it was just God's joke to make me jumpy and uncomfortable in front of grandpapa. I didn't mind the rain. In fact, I loved standing outside when it drizzled. It was the thunder and lightning that accompanied it that I hated. And right now, it looked like today there was going to be one hell of a storm.

Grandpapa never understood my fear of the killer weather.

Another reason why I wanted to be home; Dad had soundproofed a room for me when he realized that my fear wasn't something psychological or easy to get rid of. Of course, seeing as grandpapa never understood the fear, he thought it was silly to soundproof a room no matter how many times I locked myself in the wardrobe, hid under my bed or tried to suffocate myself with several layers of pillows.

He was telling me something and though I was lost in my head, it doesn't take much to figure out what he was talking about.

"I've told you every time before, grandpapa. I don't like the weather here, I miss my house back home, I just want to go home. Why are you so insistent that I stay here?" His lips tightened like it always did when I said I preferred Japan to here. I wonder why he'd make me defend myself when he knew I was going to answer this way and upset him.

"You know I don't like that Ootori runt." He murmured and turned to face the gigantic windows. Wind and the rain was pattering hard against it. I tried hard to ignore it and concentrated on the back of grandpapa's chair. "I don't love him that way, grandpapa." He didn't say anything as the wind grew louder.

"There was a reason I stopped those letters to him." This time he turned to look at me easily feigning innocence. I rolled my eyes. His acting had never managed to fool me. The same went for dad and Nii-san. I pushed that thought out of my mind. This wasn't the time to think of him. "You read them all. And because I say I love him, it does not mean it can't be in a more platonic way dear grandpapa." I said drily.

He connected the tips of his fingers and looked at me through them. I looked back at him, feverishly hoping he would agree. Although all the attempts before were failures, I wanted to go back so badly that I couldn't help hoping.

"You are not to make contact with that Ootori boy." He finally declared. I tried to keep the twitch of my lips from turning into a full blown grin. He looked at me sternly but I'd swear his eyes were smiling. "You hear me Tamora? I will let you go back to that country since you are missing your father so much but I do not want that Ootori runt knowing that you have gone back there. In fact, tell no one at all. I do not want this to get out. Or else the whole world would know that I have a soft spot for my granddaughter." He said the last sentence almost to himself. I giggled.

"I promise grandpapa. In fact, I'll disguise myself as a girl who's disguising myself as a boy. I'll even change the colour of my hair and change my history." I was getting excited. Grandpapa looked at me puzzled.

"You've thought this through, haven't you?" I smiled at him sheepishly. "You can't blame a girl for hoping, grandpapa." He burst out laughing when I said that.

"Get out of here you conniving twit. Go pack your bags, I will have the jet waiting for you in two hours. The car will be downstairs in an hour and a half. If you're even a minute late –"

"I won't be able to go. I know, I know, grandpapa." I walked around the desk and hugged him. "I love you, grandpapa. I'll come visit." I straightened up and walked out. As the door was closing behind me I heard my name. I turned to him, "Yes grandpapa?"

"Say goodbye to your grandmother before you leave." His voice was soft when he spoke of her. Obviously, I wasn't the only one he had a soft spot for.

"I will, grandpapa." I shut the door quietly behind me and ran up to my room.

"YURI!" I yelled down the stairs. I heard someone clattering up the stairs and smiled as he came to a halt in front of my room, putting his weight on his knees as he fought to catch his breath. I flung my arms around his neck before he could straighten up. "Grandpapa said yes! We can go back! See, I told you that plan would come in useful one day!" I was babbling but I couldn't care less. I had to work to keep my excitement low just now but now I just wanted to let it go or else I'd be jumping around in the jet.

"That's…great….could you…let go now?" He panted. I was probably clinging onto him too hard. I let go immediately. He stood up straight and I grinned up into his downturned face. "How long do we have?" He asked.

"Well, from right now we have about an hour and a quarter. I don't think we'll actually need all that time since most of our things are back in Japan."

"That's true." Suddenly, he started laughing. I gave him a quizzical look. "What?"

"You're so excited that you completely forgot that it's pouring outside." He snickered. I smacked his arm. "You had to remind me! Now if I cower behind you all the way it'll be your own fault." He stopped laughing and smiled at me.

"Honey, I'm used to you doing that. I even remember when you clung to my neck so hard I could barely breathe." I grinned sheepishly and looked away. Yuri and I grew up together. He was the one who gave me the nickname Tammy. "Well, go pack whatever it is you want to take along. We don't have all day."

I nodded and went to the walk-in closet in my room and started pulling random clothes off hangers and throwing them onto a suitcase Yuri had brought out. I laid everything out and packed them into the suitcase neatly. I then walked around my room picking up things I wanted to take along and spent quite some time arranging them in the suitcase carefully. When I was satisfied that I had all I wanted in there, I zipped the suitcase up and left it next to my bedroom door.

I then picked up a framed picture of dad, mum, Ranka and myself. I was three in this picture. I took the picture out of the frame and slipped it into a notebook that I would be carrying in a shoulder bag. I looked around the room a last time to see if I left anything behind then went to the third floor. I knocked softly on the door and opened it before I got an answer. The knock was just a habit I have.

The room was dim. The only source of light was the floor to ceiling windows that were partly covered by thick curtains. I moved to the bed at the far end of the room, right next to the windows. "Grandmama?" I whispered. I found it kinda weird. She didn't mind noise but somehow everyone who came in here whispered. She turned to look at me. Sometimes I wondered why she was lying in bed. Her eyes were always so _alive. _They were smiling now.

"Yes dear?"

"Grandpapa said yes." I grinned from ear to ear.

"That's wonderful! See, I told you he would wear down one day." She giggled and pushed herself up on the bed. I piled a few pillows behind her. She held my hands. "Now, what restrictions did he put on you?" I smiled. Typical of grandmama. She knew grandpapa so well.

"I'm not allowed to let anyone know I'm back there. Just those I can trust. And I'm supposed to change my identity." She nodded and focused on something behind me for a while. "I suppose that makes sense. Your grandfather has always been cautious. I hope you're not angry at him for that." She shot me a worried look. I shoke my head. She let out a relieved sigh and squeezed my hands before letting them go and dropping her hands next to her on the bed. "You should get going now then my dear. I'm sure he gave you less than two hours to be ready and waiting at the door. And knowing that man, he'll think of any way to keep you here. Which means if you are late to the door, he will use it as an excuse to keep you here." I laughed. She knew him _very _well. I kissed her cheek and smiled down at her.

"I'll miss you, grandmama. I'll write you both as often as I can."

"I'll hold you to that dear. Is Yuri going with you?" I nodded. "Good. Tell him he has my blessings. And so do you." I nodded again and left, closing the door quietly.

The two of us were waiting outside five minutes before time with grandpapa. When the car stopped in front of us, I turned to him and hugged him. "Thank you, grandpapa. This means the world to me. Take care of yourself and grandmama and make sure to eat. Remember, Yuri and I won't be here to barge into your office and force food into you." He laughed and ruffled my hair. "I will try to remember that I am actually human. Yuri, you make sure you take care of her. If she so much as gets a papercut and I hear of it, you will be in a lot of trouble."

Yuri gave him a mock salute. "Yessir!" and got a smack on his shoulder for that. They hugged and then we climbed into the car. I waved to grandpapa before the car turned around the corner and I lost sight of him. I could barely contain my excitement as we left. I knew I'd be able to see Nii-san.

After all, I promised him. And I always keep my promises.


	5. Ace

**undertow13: Thanks! Hahaha, I love Kyoya and Haruhi pairings too but to be honest, I'm just going with the flow of the story. I don't really know who Haruhi will end up with. Hopefully it'll be with Kyoya. (; Would love it if you review even if it's not the pairing you want.**

**miharu365: Thanks for the advice. To be honest, I actually know that rule but I just can't bring myself to follow it. I will try, but I tend to get lost in what I'm writing and don't really notice. Hope it won't be a big problem though. ^^**

**Dark Inu Fan: My point exactly! I have to write 1000+ words to convey it and you do it in a few words. Sigh. **

**I'm not even going to try to defend myself for being gone this long. I hope this will make it up to all of you!  
**

Strangely enough, they managed to reach the hotel in time for Haruhi's appointment.

Well, maybe the fact that the chauffeur drove at a breakneck speed had something to do with it.

The hotel belonged to the Brooks' family. Haruhi, followed by six boys who were slightly in awe of seeing her in this new role, walked into the elaborately done up lobby, nodding to some of the servants who recognized her and bowed slightly to her as she walked briskly to her destination.

She soon stopped in front of a door that had a small plate on it that read "VIP Lounge". The servant standing in front of it opened the door as soon as he saw her with a small bow and said, "Good to see you're on good time, Miss Tamora."

The Hosts trailing her were shocked at how informal the butler was with Haruhi. She was practically his boss! And yet he dared to use her given name so casually. Hikaru was just about to rebuke the rude man when Haruhi chuckled slightly.

"It's all thanks to Yuri and Jake. The two of them could win any race as long as they're paired up."

The servant looked pleased. "Ah, yes, Jake has the family blood in him, he does. I suppose he drove at an appalling speed again today?"

"Of course. He wouldn't be able to sleep at night if he didn't speed at least once," Haruhi was grinning from ear to ear. She glanced at her watch. "Oh dear, I'm almost late. Has Yamina reached yet?"

"Yes he has. He is inside right now, along with his brother. I have not gone in so I haven't a clue as to why the two maidservants came running out giggling just now. I have not heard from them since, too. Are you sure that boy is a gentleman, Miss Tamora?"

"I'm pretty sure he is, sir. If he did anything wrong, I'll make him pay for it," her grin stretched.

The servant smiled and bowed again, this time maintaining it. The seven students walked into what seemed like a cloak room and turned to the left where another door was. There were no servants inside here but the door swung open by itself when it's sensors picked up movement below it.

The six Hosts could do nothing but stare. Behind the door was….chaos.

A tall man, though not as tall as Mori, had a small raven-haired boy sitting on his shoulders. That would be perfectly normal except the small boy had his hands around the man's eyes and he was running, actually running after another boy while the kid on his shoulders shouted directions to him. He was grabbing air in front of him, trying to catch the laughing boy who was running frantically around the furniture.

The boy on feet was probably no more than eight, as was the boy on the man's shoulders, and had a shock of striking red hair that seemed too red to be natural.

The two boys caught movement at the door and turned to see Haruhi and the Hosts walk through. They laughed harder when they saw the range of expression on the newcomers' faces. Shock for Tamaki, Surprise then glee on the twins' faces, and amusement on Haruhi's. The other three Hosts didn't really know how to react so they didn't bother reacting.

The young boys exchanged a look that Haruhi interpreted as one that would spell trouble for her. Just as she was about to say something, though, the redhead ran towards the Hosts and stood there, waiting for the man to follow. The dark-haired kid shouted instructions to the man to where his friend was standing.

"There! Right there! Grab him! Hurry!" He shouted excitedly when the man stopped in front of the group. He quickly circled his arms around his prey and tightened his arms until the small form (well, small for him) was almost crushed into his body. A huge smile broke out over his face but was replaced with a bit of a frown when he realized something.

"Are…Chioke-chan, you feel different." He started to feel the arms of his captive but the boy on his shoulders – who still had his hands around the man's eyes – excitedly yelled, "Punish! Remember the punishment you promised Chioke if he got caught! Kiss him! Kiss him!"

"Kiss….?!" Haruhi blinked confusedly. What kind of punishment was a kiss?!

Feeling the form in his arms start to struggle, the man tightened his arms more. "Oh, come on Chioke-chan! It's just a peck on the forehead, nothing big. And you agreed to it, didn't you?" He leaned down and felt the boy's body move even more frantically.

Not bothering to tell Chioke to stop moving, as he figured that the kiss would shut him up well enough, he planted his lips almost roughly on the boy's forehead. Belatedly, he realized he had misjudged the height of the boy and instead, had landed his lips on….another pair of lips. Screams of laughter echoed throughout the whole room and the boy on the man's shoulder lost his balance. Luckily for him, he landed on a couch behind the man. His giggles continued unheeded as the man, who still had his eyes shut, arranged himself and his captive more comfortably. He couldn't seem to break the kiss. True, the poor boy in his hands must be completely petrified, if he were to go by how stiff his body was.

Deciding that he might as well make the most out of this, since it's undoubtedly just a one time deal – he didn't swing that way – he deepened the kiss, causing the small boy to protest. Or at least, he tried to.

"Shut up for a minute, will you?" He murmured against the strangely soft lips before delving back in. Standing just inside the room, unnoticed by the man who was bent over the form in his arms, completely absorbed, the Host club were all….still. They didn't exactly know how to react. When they saw him slip a hand into soft hair, Tamaki snapped out of his trance, causing the others to come to their senses too.

"NOOOOOO! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING YOU MADMAN! LET GO IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS RAPE, I TELL YOU! RAPE! AND YOU DARE DO THIS IN PUBLIC!?!" He made to run forward to break the kiss but Honey and Mori held him back.

"Tama-chan! Stop that! Panicking isn't good for your health. Stop it, please!"

Kaoru planted himself in front of the King, blocking his view. "GET OUT OF MY WAY KAORU! I NEED TO STOP THIS! NOOOO! THE PURITY! THE PURITY IS ALL GONE!" Tears were streaming out of his eyes.

Hikaru stood next to his brother. "I know you're righteous, Milord, but saying purity like that really gives me the idea of a pervert," he drawled, making Tamaki blush and stutter something in broken Japanese.

The twins turned to look at the two people behind them. "Honestly, why does Haruhi choose the weirdest characters to be friends with?" Kaoru voiced both their thoughts with a shake of his head. Hikaru shrugged.

Tamaki, who had regained some of his scattered sense, straightened himself up and walked towards the couple. Honey and Mori followed, suspicious of their friend's sudden calmness.

After all, he was notorious for his lack of it.

He stopped within a few meters of them, unsure of what to do.

"Um, hey. Sir, could you please stop….that?" he asked hesitantly.

The man looked up, forcing himself to break the kiss when he realized that there were others in the room with him. His eyes, which were the same color as Haruhi's shone with confusion as he let his gaze travel over the group in front of him. His eyes locked with another pair of brown ones paired with a toothy grin and framed by a shock of red hair. He blinked.

If his supposed captive was standing over there, then who was the person he had his arms wrapped around and who, he belatedly noticed, was wriggling even harder in an attempt to break away? Reluctantly, and before his mind could take over and direct him out the door at a dash, he turned his face down to the squirming mass in his arms. He blinked again, repeating the action several times as his eyes took in the features of the person in his arms and his mind attempted to convert those enraged dark eyes that were framed by glasses which flashed when they reflected the light and the abused lips that were pulled back in a silent snarl into a face that had a name attached to it. After several minutes of blinking and silence, he finally dropped his arms away, pulling back slowly.

"It's been some time, Kyoya," he said with a casualty he didn't feel, trying hard to convince himself that running away wouldn't benefit him at such a late stage. However, he couldn't help the grin that took over his face as Kyoya's expression went blank.

"Honestly Ace, I know you said that you thought Kyoya was good-looking, but I always thought you were as straight as an arrow." The man named Ace turned to Haruhi, the grin on his face widening considerably.

"Well, technically, when you shoot an arrow it goes in an upwards arc, not in a straight line, though if you're referring to the shape of the arrow, then I suppose that you're right," he stated amicably, as though he had just been asked the time.

He threw a glance at Kyoya who still looked slightly lost, his expression that of someone who was trying hard to remember something that was just out of his grasp. "You were also right in assuming that I was straight. I assumed that too," his grin turned playful and he slipped an arm around Kyoya, drawing the boy out of his reverie.

Kyoya blinked up at him for a moment before stating in his usual dry tone, "I knew I remembered that grin from somewhere."

Ace sighed happily, wrapping his arms once more around Kyoya in a bear hug. Kyoya froze, chanting repeatedly in his head that it would do him no good to kill the man. "I knew you'd remember me! Though I must say, I was pretty worried there for a second that you'd forgotten me." He said happily as he let go of Kyoya, this time removing all skin ship with him.

"You were the only one besides Tammy I couldn't threaten, idiot, of course I'd remember you. And what's this about you being gay? I thought that you had a permanent crush on T - " The rest of his sentence was cut off by Ace who clamped his hand hurriedly over Kyoya's mouth. He grinned sheepishly at the others before turning to glare at Kyoya who just arched an eyebrow, his eyes voicing his amusement since his mouth was handicapped.

"I don't believe I have ever confessed to batting for the other team," Ace drawled, releasing Kyoya after he was sure the boy wouldn't finish his sentence. "Though I must say that doing so would entail some… interesting perks," his eyes roamed appreciatively over Kyoya. In return, he got a glare and he had the vague feeling that the temperature in the room dropped considerably.

The twins were oddly quiet, Tamaki even more so, Haruhi thought absentmindedly. The King would have pounced on the man the moment he pulled Kyoya in for a hug and yet there was no reaction, no screaming, no…nothing.

"Haru-chan!" Haruhi looked down, startled out of her thoughts at Honey who was tugging lightly on her arm his face scrunched up as he tried to hold back tears.

"What is it, senpai?" She asked worriedly.

"I think they're dead!" He cried, throwing himself at Haruhi and clinging on to her waist. Haruhi stared down at her sobbing senpai and then looked to where Mori was setting Kaoru down on one of the couches next to Tamaki and Hikaru. The twin slumped forward.

"Ah, so that was why it was so quiet," she muttered as the grin that had momentarily disappeared from her face at Honey's outburst came back. She knew that there was nothing to worry about, that the three of them had probably just passed out at seeing Kyoya calmly take what Ace had thrown at him. If they had truly died, Mori wouldn't be smiling like that, she knew.

Haruhi blinked, snapping her head back to stare at Mori. Mori was _smiling_? When the said boy caught her stare, his smile immediately disappeared and he resumed his usual stoic expression. She turned around to where Ace and Kyoya stood, their eyes glued to the three slumped boys on the couch.

Ace turned confused and worried eyes to Haruhi, "What's up with them?"

She shrugged in return. "You'll find out soon enough when they wake up and murder you for molesting Kyoya."

Haruhi laughed as Ace paled and threw a glance at Kyoya, silently begging him to refute what she said.

Kyoya mirrored Haruhi's actions and walked over to a couch that was perpendicular to where the three unconscious bodies sat. He sat down and motioned for the raven-haired boy who had been sitting quietly on the couch he had fallen on to sit next to him. "It's been some time, little man," Kyoya greeted the boy as he obliged and moved to sit next to him.

The boy smiled brightly, "It's been a very long time, Uncle."


	6. Raven

**It's only a couple of hours to midnight here. I'm sleepy but happy. Personally, I love Kyoya in this. And a little haruhix? for some of you, a possible hint as to the OTP of this story. ;3 **

**Thanks for waiting!**

**xxxxx**

By an unstated law of the universe, saturdays are supposed to be boringly mundane. It is a rule that every saturday, every single saturday has to follow. It was a basis of life, the reason that the world managed to keep spinning on it's axis. However, for some odd reason, the rules seemed to have been thrown out the metaphorical window when it came to that particular saturday.

It started out right. The way a saturday is supposed to start out. Laziness dripped around and within the Brooke's mansion. Everything seemed to be on slow motion, the sky that was slowly turning a light pink, the dew formed on the flowers through the night when the air is much more damp, even the wildlife that couldn't bring themselves to leave their respective homes in search of food. The predominant feeling floating between all life then was a feeling of 'to hell with the worms! Let the other birds have 'em for all I care'.

Inside the ridiculously overstated excuse of a house that was really a mansion that was really like five mansions glued together, it wasn't any different from the outside world. Everything that could breathe in the building was asleep, even the staff had trouble forcing themselves out of their beds to prepare for their masters whom they knew would be asleep at least until mid-morning. Upstairs, in bedrooms that were the size of apartments, the tenants and their guests slept peacefully, blissfully out of tune with the world. Each Host had a room to themselves (save the twins) that was close enough to the next that they didn't feel isolated but far enough that they had privacy.

Because that saturday morning conformed to one of the most basic laws of the universe, it was a crime, nay, a sin, that there was actually someone who was awake. A living, breathing creature was awake before the sun was even properly up itself. It was blasphemy in the purest, most foul of senses. Worse still, this criminal, sinner, was an eight year old boy.

The door to the bedroom opened with a soft swish instead of the usual creak that accompanied unwanted intrusion. Small feet padded into the room, silenced by a thick luxurious carpet. The target of this young boy was lying unaware in bed, asleep. He crept up to the large bed and slipped under the covers at the foot of it. He wriggled his way through what seemed like an endless cloth tunnel until he surfaced at the other end of it. Pushing the covers back a bit so he could settle with his legs crossed comfortably, he stared at the peaceful face in front of him. They lay on their back, an arm flung carelessly at the side of their head, next to the pillow. The covers rose and fell with the deep, even breaths of slumber.

Being too young to understand the importance of sleep to older people, he stretched out his hand and poked their nose with his index finger. When he got no reaction, he repeated his actions, this time getting a flinch out of them. He continued his annoyingly effective tactic of waking them up until they forced a single eyelid open. The young boy stared into the glassy eye and saw his own reflection there. His victim closed their eye and then cranked open both eyes to stare, or glare – sleep makes eye communication difficult – at him in silent askance. When the boy said nothing but sat there and stared into the dark pools that were usually hidden to him by a layer of glass, the other sighed heavily and shut both eyes again, this time to summon up the energy to unglue their lips and to remember how to function their tongue.

"What do you want?" They croaked, the exposure to dry air through the night showing it's effects. Usually, this person would never speak just after being woken up. They would never even grant the invader of their peace the chance to sit there for so long after they destroyed their sleep. Not alive, at any rate. But this kid was an exception.

Their question was met with silence. Figuring that the boy just had nothing else better to do, they shifted slightly in the bed to go back to sleep. On the verge of their goal, they felt another stab, this time at their forehead. Losing patience fast, they looked up at the boy, their expression this time conveying annoyance and a sliver of a deadly desire to murder a very specific someone. Finally, the boy spoke,

"Play with me." It wasn't a request, but a demand. The other blinked, startled. Then they closed their eyes with another sigh and tried to push back the rather interesting and creative images of them killing with the nearest thing available to them which happened to be a cellphone.

"Maybe later." They said, trying to hide the hostility in their voice from the child.

"No. Now. Everyone else is asleep." The child insisted, stubbornly crossing his arms and frowning disapprovingly at the older of the two. The latter vaguely wondered where he learned the art of such a guilt inducing glare.

"I was sleeping too." They said testily.

"But you're not now," was the retort that they got.

"Because you woke me up," they ground out, their hand under the blanket curling into a fist.

"So you could play with me. Play with me." The unfortunate victim of the child turned their face away, shut their eyes and forcefully took deep, slow breaths. "I'm tired, Kyoru. Go find someone else to torture." Their voice brooked no argument as they finally decided that they had given in to the child too much already.

In reply, the child wrapped the covers around his small frame as though he was cold and pulled a pillow to himself that he hugged and balanced his chin on and continued to stare at the other.

**xxxxx**

A little over half an hour later, another door in a different part of the house opened. The small body walked across the room and slipped under the covers of a different bed. Kyoru lay on his side facing a new face that was as peaceful as the earlier person's had been before he had woken them up. As though instinctively knowing that there was someone else in her bed, Haruhi opened her eyes. A warm smile slipped onto her lips in greeting when she saw who it was. She reached out a hand and brushed a lock of hair away from the boy's forehead.

"You're up later than you usually are." She observed, her voice soft and sleepy. Kyoru shook his head, as best as he could with one side of his face against a pillow. "I woke up earlier. I wanted to play."

"Oh? Then why didn't you come look for me?" Haruhi's eyes drooped slightly even as the question left her lips.

"I wanted to play with Uncle," he replied. Haruhi suddenly felt very awake. "You looked for him? You woke him up? Did he touch you? Did you touch him?" She sat up, looking over what little she could see of the boy in search of a sign of abuse.

Kyoru scrunched up his face slightly, "I did find him, but when I woke him up he didn't want to play with me."

Haruhi let out a relieved breath she didn't even realize she had been holding and lay down again. "Kyo-kun, next time, look for me. Or any one of my friends. Or grandpa. Or any of the staff. But never, ever, look for your uncle again." Kyoru blinked at her for a bit then slowly, he nodded. Haruhi shot another smile at the small boy that had her black hair and the sharp, black eyes of the person whom she hadn't seen in almost a decade. Satisfied that the child was not harmed, she closed her eyes to go back to sleep, knowing that if she did so, the other would do so too.

"Haruhi?" Eyes still shut, she made a sound at the back of her throat to show that she was paying attention. "I think there's something wrong with the heater in uncle's room. It was freezing when I left. I think uncle might get sick," he said seriously, his forehead furrowed slightly in worry.

Haruhi stifled the urge to burst out laughing. "You don't worry about your uncle, Kyo-kun. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the heater. It was probably just your imagination."

**xxxxx**

Later that morning, the guests of the house made their way down to the dining hall. The room was large and spacious, at least the size of a football field. One wall was made of glass and had multiple doors that opened out to balconies that looked down onto an oasis. A long marble banquet table was pushed up against a wall instead of the middle of the room where it usually stood. On it was an amazing spread of dishes that could feed a continent. As the large table was pushed against the wall, small, round tables scattered the floor. The group of six spotted their hosts sitting at a table on one of the balconies. As they approached the three that sat chatting idly while they consumed their breakfasts, the servants pulled up another couple of tables so that the furniture formed a triangle.

The trio looked up as their guests approached and Haruhi greeted them cheerfully. Kyoru beamed at them for a moment before going back to gorging on his stacked plate. The third person at the table was a man that seemed in his forties, clean- shaven with a warm smile that made his eyes twinkle. That smile was now directed at them as they bowed slightly to him before they sat down at the two adjoining tables.

"How was your night?" The man, who was Haruhi's father, asked.

"It was very comfortable," Tamaki, ever the charming one, beamed at him. There was a chorus of agreements around the other two tables as four of the five remaining hosts voiced their appreciation of their rooms. Darren looked at Kyoya who had been silent. "Did you not sleep well, Kyoya?"

Kyoya shook his head slightly, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips when he detected the slightly teasing tone that the older man always used when he talked to him. It was familiar and comfortable. This man was more of a father to him in his childhood than his own.

"I did, uncle. Unfortunately, my sleep was interrupted a bit earlier this morning than I am used to." The silence that followed his seemingly casual statement was deafening. Five pairs of scared eyes darted between their host and the bespectacled boy. To their surprise, Darren laughed, the sound relieving the tension that had filled the room. "Still unable to get up early, Kyoya? I would have thought that high school would teach you to be a bit more independent." Again, the tension was so thick, a butcher's knife wouldn't be able to cut through it.

To the shock and amazement of the Hosts, Kyoya burst out laughing. Tamaki almost died of a heart attack at the sound, Kaoru and Hikaru stared at each other, eyes so wide that they almost popped out, Honey's eyes peeped out from under the table where he was hiding, and Mori had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't still asleep. "It should have," he replied, looking thoughtfully down as a servant placed a cup of coffee in front of him. "But I really can't seem to bring myself to wake up at such an ungodly time of day."

He wrapped his hands around the cup and took a sip of the steaming liquid and froze. He slowly lowered the cup, his face expressionless. He turned to Darren, "Is Maria still here?" he asked casually. Darren nodded, his mouth full having just put a forkful of pancake into his mouth.

Kyoya slid his chair back and stood up. "Excuse me, I want to have a talk with her," he excused himself and walked away. The five pairs of eyes that followed his figure until he left the dining hall shot to Haruhi who was sipping her own cup of coffee, looking in the direction that Kyoya had left thoughtfully. Sensing the eyes on her, she turned to Tamaki and raised an eyebrow.

"Who's Maria?" Hikaru practically demanded.

"Our cook," she answered.

"He's not going to kill her for his coffee is he? The coffee's really good! She shouldn't die!" Honey cried.

Haruhi waved her hand dismissively. "He said he wants to talk to her. So he's going to talk to her." She said. A mischievous grin lit up her face. "Maybe you should go see for yourselves that she'll be fine."

The five exchanged looks and shot to their feet, excused themselves and practically ran out the dining hall.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Tammy?" Haruhi turned to her father who had watched them silently. "They might die."

"They'll be fine," Haruhi replied easily. A thoughtful look crossed her face and she looked around the hall that was now empty save for the occupants of her table. "Where are Yuri and Adrian?"

"They had to run an errand for me. Your grandmother will be flying in in a few days and I want her to be as comfortable here as she is back home." His smile faded, "Since your grandfather's not there anymore, she'll find the house too big. It could be suffocating, especially with no family around."

Haruhi stood up and bent over to hug her father. She planted a soft kiss to his temple and straightened. She ruffled Kyoru's hair before silently leaving the hall. Darren watched her go, noticing as he did every other time that she walked like her mother. He started and looked down when he felt a small hand close around his own. Kyoru looked up at him, his features resembling the woman whose picture he kept on his bedside table and eyes the soft brown of the one he had loved and lost. The child smiled softly and tugged on his hand slightly to make him bend lower so he could plant a kiss, the kind only a child could give, the kind that made you feel that maybe moving on was worth it, on his cheek before turning his attention back to his food.

**xxxxx**

When Haruhi reached the kitchen, she was startled to find Hikaru and Kaoru kneeling on the floor next to Tamaki who seemed unconscious. She hurried to their side and kneeled down. She looked up at the glazed expression of the twins and then realized that the others were nowhere in sight. Deciding that she'd question them about that later, she snapped her fingers in front of the twins' faces, causing them to look at her with shell-shocked eyes. They looked like they had just seen someone die but she was sure that Tamaki had just fainted.

"What happened?" She asked, her voiced seemed to break through whatever was fogging their minds. Forming coherent sentences, however, was out of their league, as she discovered when both started to talk at the same time, their words glued together. She clamped a hand over Hikaru's mouth to silence him and listened to Kaoru blabber.

"She had this really long stick and she was waving it in the air and saying some stuff then Kyoya suddenly sat down on the floor! HE SAT ON THE FLOOR KYOYA SAT ON THE FLOOR! Then, then, then, she gave him this brown thing that was round and he took it and then he started to eat it then put down the stick and then brought more of the brown stuff that Kyoya was eating and then gave it to him and then he took it and kept eating HE WOULDN'T STOP EATING HE JUST WOULDN'T STOP! And, and, and, and, he was coughing and he went to the back then he came back and he sat back down HE SAT BACK DOWN HARUHI HE SAT BACK DOWN and he kept eating he just wouldn't stop eating! Then he said something and they both laughed KYOYA LAUGHED AGAIN and then she ruffled his hair HIS HAIR. KYOYA'S HAIR. SHE TOUCHED HIS HAIR AND LIVED and then... and then... and then..." Kaoru trailed off, staring into space, the expression of horror that had invaded his features while he recounted the story permanently glued to his face.

Haruhi could see what had happened after, she didn't need Kaoru to continue. She glanced into the kitchen and saw only the cook in there. She left the three Hosts where they were, the kneeling pair still in shock and joined the cook who sat at a table staring blankly at the wood.

"Maria?" She approached the other woman tentatively. The cook looked up and blinked once. When she recognized Haruhi, she smiled a wobbly smile. Haruhi pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, "Maria, what happened?"

"These two boys, one really small and another really big, they suddenly came barging in here and the small one was calling me a witch and was demanding to know what I did with Kyoya-sama, and he was going on about killing me if I killed him when Kyoya was just sitting on the floor there, right as day, and he was just looking at them, as shocked as I was and then the big one suddenly picked him up and dashed out of here and Kyoya-sama was so shocked that he didn't even protest! They just took him and ran!" She buried her face in her hands, "I think I took too much whisky this morning."

**xxxxx**

With much effort, Haruhi managed to wake Tamaki up and bring the twins back to their senses. When they were thinking again, she had to stop them from rushing into the kitchen and killing Maria. She convinced them that it would be better if they looked for the others before Kyoya murdered the other two for their misguided justice and for kidnapping him. They searched the whole house, finally finding them in Kyoya's room.

Kyoya was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, a pillowcase over his head. Haruhi didn't know whether to cry or laugh when Mori let them into the room. She spun to the five that stood just behind the door, eyeing Kyoya's form suspiciously.

"You. Are. All. Crazy." She stressed on each word. "Why are you treating Kyoya like some terrorist? It's Kyoya for God's sake, do you realize how stupid it is to tie him up to a chair?"

"That is NOT Kyoya!" Tamaki shot back defiantly. "Kyoya does not sit on the floor, he does not laugh, and he sure as hell doesn't let anyone touch his head!"

"That cook took care of us when we were kids! She's like his nanny! Can't you give the guy a break and let him be a kid sometime?" Her voice rose with anger.

The five blinked at her, unused to and slightly scared of Haruhi's anger. "Kyoya's more grown up than adults." Tamaki deadpanned. "He hasn't been normal the whole day! He laughed twice! And he didn't kill Kyoru for waking him up! THAT IS PROOF THAT IT IS NOT KYOYA!"

"Fine! You want proof that this is Kyoya? I'll give you your damn proof." She stalked over to the chair and yanked off the pillowcase. Immediately, the temperature in the room seemed to drop drastically and Kaoru would swear that he could see his breath.

Haruhi undid the cloth that Honey and Mori had tied around Kyoya's mouth and then started work on the intricate knots of the band around Kyoya's hands. The latter's eyes roamed over the Hosts that stood against the door, rooted to the ground, suddenly unsure whether they would leave the room alive.

Kyoya's voice was soft and smooth when he spoke, with no trace of any hostility whatsoever. The very sound of it made their insides melt. "All I did was talk to an old friend in a place that I am very familiar with. Comfortable, in fact. Now, why is it, that in the middle of my very entertaining conversation with my good friend, two people barge into this place that I am comfortable in, an action that I find is very intrusive, by the way, and start throwing insults at this good friend of mine that I have not seen for years? To top it off with a metaphorical cherry, these two people did not stop at scaring my dear friend, no, they had to make it worse by actually kidnapping me. And then they tied me to a chair," Here, his voice took on a friendly tone, "Tell me," he began just as Haruhi undid the last of the knots and the makeshift cuff fell away.

He stood up, rubbing his wrist idly, "why I should not kill all of you."

The question was met with silence. The other Hosts could not tell if he was being serious or if he just wanted to scare them. Kyoya walked over to them, stopping when he was a few feet away. He locked eyes with all of them, making sure that they saw the murderous intent in his eyes. "Do that again," he said, his voice still friendly and completely at odds with the anger in his eyes, "and even Haruhi won't be able to keep you alive." With that, he walked past them and out the door. It was silent again after he left as they stared at each other wide-eyed, partly glad to still be breathing and partly still scared that if they moved an inch, they would find that their body was no longer intact.

"I told you so," they started at the sound of Haruhi's voice. They had forgotten that she was even in the room. She smirked at them as she headed for the door. She stopped just as she passed the threshold of the room and turned to them, "If you do that again," she said, an evil glint in her eyes, "I don't think I'd want to save you."

They stared at her retreating back, suddenly seeing how the two dark-haired Hosts had been best friends.

**xxxxx**

That night after dinner, they decided to go to a funfair that was in town. Yuri was coerced into joining them. They tried to stay together but as is usual with crowded places, they soon got separated. Tamaki and the twins found themselves in front of the multiple booth of games, delighted at the simple games that commoners enjoyed. Honey and Mori drifted off to the booths that sold food and Mori had a difficult time keeping Honey from buying all the sweets. Kyoya, Haruhi, and Yuri were left to wonder aimlessly around, as neither three were particularly interested in funfairs.

Soon, however, the atmosphere seemed to draw Haruhi in. She convinced Yuri to join her for a few games and rides, even managing to get Kyoya to agree a couple of times.

Hours later, Haruhi and Kyoya found themselves sitting on a bench a few feet away from the funfair watching people walk by. Yuri had left them there and gone off in search of the others so that they could all head home. Haruhi sat with her elbows on her knees, her chin on a fist, staring contemplatively ahead of her. Kyoya was leaning against the bench, his head resting on it, seemingly tired from dragged around by Haruhi.

Suddenly, Haruhi felt something knock her knee. She turned to look at Kyoya who had not moved at all except for his knee. He straightened slowly and almost imperceptibly leaned in closer to her. He stared ahead but his words were directed at her, "We're being watched."

Haruhi mimicked his position, seemingly looking at whatever it was that Kyoya was looking at, "Where?"

Kyoya raised his arms and locked them above his head, stretching slightly to his left and then let them fall back to his sides. Haruhi glanced out of the corner of her eyes in the direction Kyoya had bent and saw a person clad all in black with a cap pulled low over their face leaning against a tree some way away from them. She had seen that person several times throughout the time they had spent there.

"Do you think they're following us?" She asked, turning to Kyoya with a grin, as though to suggest that they do something else at the fair. She could see the person better and they seemed to be completely unaware of the two of them on the bench, staring at the crowd of people walking by.

Kyoya shrugged and slipped an arm along the back of the bench. Haruhi leaned back against it, and he wrapped the arm around her shoulders to pull her closer to his side. To anyone who was watching, they would see a couple who had come to the fair to get away from school to spend time alone with each other. To anyone watching, when Kyoya bent over to whisper in Haruhi's ear, "Maybe you should call Yuri now." And a brilliant smile lit up her face because she hadn't considered it, it would seem like he was suggesting something that they could do together instead of stay at the fair.

Unfortunately for them, however, the person who saw their act was none other than the resident overdramatic King of the host club. Unaware of him, Kyoya wrapped his other arm around Haruhi to hide her phone from the possible stalker. As she looked down to text Yuri, Kyoya rested his chin on her bent head and shifted slightly so that his body wasn't angled so uncomfortably.

As his eyes scanned the area in the hopes of seeing Yuri, they locked with a pair of blue eyes that was staring at them with his mouth agape. Kyoya couldn't stop the smirk that crossed his face when he saw him, not that he really wanted to stop it anyway.

He angled his head slightly to the side so that his lips were just above Haruhi's ear but he was able to keep eye contact with the other. "Don't turn around now, but I think Tamaki thinks we're cuddling." He grinned when he felt Haruhi's shoulders shake slightly and the sound of her laughter brushed past his ear.

Tamaki was obviously distressed. Due to what had happened earlier that day, none of the five hosts dared go near Kyoya but he desperately wanted to save Haruhi from whatever perverted thoughts he knew was going through Kyoya's mind. He knew that Kyoya that Haruhi was in danger from the former because there was a twisting feeling in his gut that he got whenever any of his friends looked Haruhi that way and he had the sudden urge to yank Haruhi away from the other boy. When Haruhi finally raised her head, Tamaki was relieved and was just about to walk over to the pair when she leaned up slightly and planted a peck on Kyoya's cheek. Tamaki froze for a second before swallowing his heart and continuing towards them.

Haruhi turned around and grinned at the approaching blonde, greeting him as though nothing had happened. Kyoya released her and stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and stood up too.

Tamaki cleared his throat, "Yuri said you'd be here. Everyone else is waiting at the parking lot." The pair nodded and they made their way through the fair towards the parking lot in silence. There was cheap music and laughter in the air surrounding them but between the three was a silence and a tenseness that spoke volumes of how uncomfortable they had become.

They soon reached the parking lot and walked towards the group of friends that stood waiting next to the limo. Yuri pushed away from his position where he was leaning against the side of the limo and took a few steps forward to meet them halfway. Suddenly, Haruhi was yanked back hard by an arm that had snaked around her neck. With a strangled cry she stumbled back into a body and she heard a click just before she felt the barrel of a gun against her temple. When the arm had appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her, Yuri had whipped out his gun and he now stood tensely aiming it at them.

He dared not shoot for fear of shooting Haruhi whose body blocked most of her attacker's.

"Move back, both of you," Haruhi heard the voice loud against her left ear, opposite where he held the gun. Kyoya and Tamaki slowly inched backwards to the group, Tamaki looking helpless while Kyoya's face was impassive.

"I'm going to leave with her and none of you are going to follow me. Or you know what happens. We clear?" There were slow nods as he slowly backed away from them towards the exit of the parking lot. Haruhi heard him chuckle slightly, "You're too easy. I almost want to give you back to them so I have someone to shoot," he whispered to her.

"Why are you doing this?" She ground out. His forearm was pressed hard against her throat, barely allowing her room to breathe.

"You've got some nasty people that want you dead, little girl. Shouldn't have been born so rich, should you?" He was enjoying his victory, Haruhi could tell from his voice. She prayed that somehow Yuri would be able to get to them before they exited the area.

"If I'm supposed to be dead, why are you kidnapping me instead?"

"Wouldn't be good for me if you were shot in the middle of a parking lot in front of all these people. You're supposed to die more... subtly."

Haruhi felt a shiver run up her spine. She tensed when he pressed the gun harder against her temple. "I told you that you ain't gonna follow me," he called out. Yuri had inched forward and now stood about half a dozen cars away from them. He had his gun lowered but at the ready, waiting for any opening he might have.

Haruhi's kidnapper suddenly stopped moving. As she was facing forward, she didn't see what Yuri and the others saw. A knife blade glinted wickedly in the low light cast from the boundaries of the fair. The flat side of it rested against the attacker's neck. One flick of the wrist and it would be embedded in the attacker's neck. It only dawned on Haruhi what was happening when she heard a low, feminine voice, "She's mine," the newcomer growled. "You know the drill."

The attacker slowly released her neck, raising the freed hand in the air and slowly bent to drop the gun and kick it under a car. Haruhi quickly moved away from the two assassins and turned only when she reached Yuri's side. She recognized the knife-wielding attacker to be the person who had been following her and Kyoya.

Yuri raised his gun just as the end of the knife made contact with the first assassin's head, knocking him unconscious. Even as his body crumpled in front of her, she flipped her knife so that she was holding the blade and flung it at Yuri.

A scream sliced through the air just moments before a body hit the ground with a sickening thud.

**xxxxx**

**What do you think? I love cliff-hanger endings when I'm the one writing them! *insert evil laughter here* I'm considering starting a story blog because I have a lot of one-shots put into different sites. Hmmm, should I? Would you visit? Would love to know your opinions (: **

**R&R! I'd die without them. dazed!Kaoru is beyond cute *flails* *w***


	7. Knives

OMG. I only just noticed that it's been _over a year _since I last updated. I feel so tiny. ._. There's a line in the story that jumps out at me when I think about this, guess which. Anyway, I've managed to complete a few chapters ( yay! ) all of which are of unorganized lengths so please don't mind it. All that's left for me to do is edit them. I edit my chapters as I upload them, so please forgive me if they take longer than you expect. That reminds me! I'm looking for a beta reader. Preferably someone who's in the GMT+8 timezone or somewhere close, because it really sucks if I have to stay up past midnight just to hear what you think of my story. If anyone's interested, please email me or send me a message. (:

I usually edit my own stories but the problem is that doing that gives me less time to write them and to let the plot bunnies grow into healthy rabbits that I can, uh, play with. So please, if you can beta read for me, then let me know! The only requirements that I have are (GMT+8) - debatable, really, and you should be able to tell me where my mistakes are. I rely a lot on personal views of my reader, that's why I rely on reviews so much *cough*hinthint*cough*

This chapter is a bit different, firstly because it's super short for me, and secondly, because I only wrote one scene. I decided that since it's such an emotional scene, I didn't want to mess it up with other things, for fear that it might seem a bit sloppy.

R&R! It's one of the only reasons I keep posting (albeit extremely belatedly)

xxxxx

"You could have just come over and said hi," Haruhi muttered when she walked into the room carrying a first aid kit.

The person lying haphazardly on the couch facing the door snorted derisively, not even bothering to lift the arm that they had over their eyes.

"Sure, go up and talk to the target of the person you're tailing. Guaranteed way of making sure the job's done." Raven retorted. "I might as well go up to him and say; 'Look here dude, that girl you want to assassinate? She's my boss, so I can't let you.'"

Putting the first aid kit down on the table with a little more force than necessary, Haruhi spun around to glare at the other girl, "Well then, the least you could have done was let me know! We thought you were tailing _us._"

"It's not my fault the lot of you are paranoid!" She replied tensely.

"You're one to speak, you don't dare leave the house without at least five knives on you!" Haruhi shot back with a snort of her own. She turned back to the kit and started laying the things she required out on the table.

"Take off your shirt," she threw over her shoulder at Yuri who had pulled up a high back chair and was sitting in it, looking extremely pale, clutching the piece of cloth that had been hastily pressed to the side of his arm to stem the flow of blood.

The latter grimaced slightly, knowing from past experiences that doing what she ordered was harder than it seemed. He struggled out of it, managing to get one arm out and tugged it over his head before he gave up. He was even more pale now, and the Host Club members who were scattered around the room watched him apprehensively, unsure if they should offer help.

Raven just rolled her eyes at him, completely unperturbed by the obvious pain he was in. She opened her mouth to say something when a very loud bang echoed through the mansion. She shut her mouth as she sat up, shoulders tense as though expecting an attacker to run in through the door.

Now, figuratively speaking, the person who came hurtling through the door wasn't a criminal. But then, well, he did molest Kyoya.

"Yuri! What the hell happened to you! I get a call saying something about a kidnapping, and almost being shot, and then knife-throwing?" Ace exclaimed when he caught sight of the blood-drained face that stared at him in shock. He rushed over to Yuri and caught sight of the cloth that he had pressed to his arm, noticing the blood stain on it. "YOU WENT TO A FRICKIN' FUN FAIR FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?"

Yuri didn't get a chance to explain, as he was cut off by Haruhi who had an opened bottle of medicine in one hand and a bunch of alcohol swabs in the other.

"It's a flesh wound, Ace, you don't have to scream the roof off this place over that," she said, narrowed eyes locking with Ace's own that were wide with fear and worry.

Ace swung around to stab a finger accusingly at Raven who had relaxed a bit but was now frowning in annoyance at the intrusion.

"It's got to be you! Every time there's knife throwing involved, you have to be around. What the hell were you thinking, flinging a knife at him so casually?" He exploded, his voice rising with each word.

Raven clicked her tongue in annoyance, "I wasn't aiming for him, moron. I was aiming for the guy behind him that he was too stupid to notice who was about to stab him in the back." She snapped back at him. "Now sit down and be quiet, he doesn't need loud people to shout on his behalf to feel better."

Ace conceded when he saw that Yuri really was exhausted. He stalked over to another couch and flung himself in it, glowering at Raven the whole time. The said girl ignored his glare, and instead watched with mild interest as Haruhi carefully pried Yuri's hand away and took away the cloth. She then helped him out of the shirt gently, making sure not to move his arm too much. Even so, he was sweating by the time it was over and was more pale if that was possible.

"Are you sure that it's just a flesh wound? He shouldn't be in that much pain if it was," Ace piped up anxiously, torn between glaring hatefully at Raven and jumping forward to give Haruhi a hand. Not bothering to reply, Haruhi bent closer and studied the wound a bit and the look on her face when she straightened wasn't very assuring.

"The knife cut deeper than I though. I'll clean off the dried blood and see if it needs stitching," she told Yuri as she picked up an alcohol swab. In reply, all she got was a curt nod, and Yuri leaned back against the seat slightly, closing his eyes. Haruhi began gently dabbing at the wound, making sure not to press too hard.

"Ne, Takashi, Haru-chan's doing a really good job, don'tcha think?" Honey asked, finally breaking the silence that had shrouded the six hosts during the whole episode. Mori nodded slightly, his eyes still trained on Haruhi.

"I wonder if she's done this before," Tamaki said, his voice uncharacteristically soft. The twins who were seated on his left shrugged their indifference.

"I wonder how she manages to keep five knives on her," Hikaru murmured to his brother, his voice so low that no one but the six of them could hear it.

Kaoru grinned in reply and he turned towards Tamaki, "Milord, why don't you go find out?"

"W-W-What? Why do I have to go?" The King spluttered, his eyes wide.

Kaoru shrugged, "You're the King, and the most charming of us all, you've said so yourself."

Blushing furiously, Tamaki stammered something that sounded vaguely Japanese before he stuffed his fist into his mouth to stop himself.

The twins, enjoying the slightly uplifted mood, shared a small high five and started to tease their King even more.

"She carries two knifes in thigh holsters on both legs, two more are in the soles of her shoes that she made customized to fit them, and one more in the small of her back."

The silent stares that followed his words didn't faze Kyoya who just looked back at the five gaping mouths mildly. He cocked an eyebrow in askance.

"H-How'd you know all that?" This time it was Hikaru's turn to splutter.

Kyoya leveled him a look. "I know everything."

The other five exchanged glances, completely unsure of what to make of that statement. Haruhi clicking her tongue caught their attention and all six turned towards her, ending the conversation.

"The wound's much too deep. I'm going to have to stitch it back up," she told an exhausted looking Yuri. Again, he nodded in reply, finding that that was the extent of activity his current state allowed him. He settled back again, his eyes drifting shut.

"You should have been able to aim better, it's not like the guy was too far away from you," this time Haruhi's words were directed towards Raven who looked immensely bored.

"It's not my fault he has to move so much, I told you I wasn't aiming for him." She retorted, angry that she was being blamed.

"I know you weren't aiming for him, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have aimed better!" Haruhi exclaimed, finally showing how upset she was. She picked up a needle that she had prepared, and carefully threaded it with a special bio-degradable thread.

"Well, gee, I'm sorry if half a year living in bloody Iceland has made my aim soft! There isn't exactly a lot of things to throw knifes at there, never mind that it's too cold to go out in the first place!" She shot back hotly.

"Stop using such pathetic excuses. You went there on a mission that you signed yourself on! I told you you'd hate it there but you left anyway!" Haruhi stabbed the needle accusingly at her.

"Quit telling me that already, I know you think I was dumb to go!" Raven shouted at her, rising to her feet.

"Quit blaming others for your mistakes!" Haruhi shouted back, equally wound up.

They glared at each other for what seemed like eons, both refusing to back down. Finally, as the tension in the room grew until it was almost unbearable, Raven spun around and stormed out. The slamming of the door echoed in the silence she had left behind and made the others jump.

"That was mean." Haruhi started and looked down at Yuri who was watching her through half-lidded eyes. Instead of replying, she turned away and picked up another alcohol swab and dabbed at his wound gently before she began to stitch it.

"She needed it," she finally replied as she made meticulous stitches.

"It was still pretty harsh," Ace drawled from his seat. The Hosts looked at him in surprise. When Raven had left the room, the other man had suddenly become relaxed, even spreading himself more comfortably on the couch he was on. He now had a slight smirk playing about his lips. The Hosts wondered if he really disliked Raven that much that he would be happy that she was so upset.

Haruhi sighed as she made the last of the stitches. With a small pair of scissors, she cut the end of the thread and rummaged in the first aid kit, finally pulling out a square of bandage and some tape. Carefully arranging the bandage over Yuri's wound, she taped the thing firmly and then stood up with a satisfied smile.

Moving over to his other side, she helped him limp over to the couch that had only just been vacated. He leaned back against the soft leather gratefully and shut his eyes.

"I know it was," she finally addressed Ace's earlier comment. "But she's been in denial for so long that maybe this will get her back on her feet."

"Still," Ace said thoughtfully, "calling me and making me come in here to shout at her was a bit too much, don't you think?"

Haruhi shook her head. "We fight all the time," she explained. "The only way it'd really get through that thick skull of hers is if Yuri's best friend smashed through it."

As Ace nodded thoughtfully at her explanation, the Hosts stared at the other three in the room like they were aliens. As though in class, Hikaru raised his hand and waited for Haruhi to turn and look at him.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked curiously, his question garnering supportive nods from the others who shared his sentiments.

"You were acting all along?" Tamaki added his own question. Ace nodded while Haruhi shook her head.

At the confused looks of the others, Haruhi explained with a sigh.

"I wasn't acting when I was yelling at her, but Ace was."

Ace nodded along enthusiastically, "Yea, I mean, I knew that Yuri was going to be fine. But Haruhi called me earlier and told me what happened and then told me to come over and be a drama queen."

He grinned at the bemused looks he received. "See, Raven has this strange complication," he began.

"She has trouble showing emotion," Haruhi cut in. "And although she loves Yuri and I, she always puts her job in front of people, and that means that she sometimes makes decisions that are really stupid just so she can prove to us that she's capable."

Humming in agreement, Ace picked up from where she left off, "Throwing the knife at him was one of those stupid things. She wanted to show that she was better, but she reacted too fast, thus messing up her aim."

"Now she's going to be really nice to me for a month," Yuri moaned, making the others jump. His voice was hoarse and Haruhi rushed to get him a glass of water. As he drank, Ace grinned mischievously at his best friend.

"I'm sure you enjoy it, after all, the last time she was nice to you, you – " Yuri groaned and covered his eyes with his free hand, cutting off what Ace was going to say.

"I'll _die," _he whined piteously.

"Nah, you'll just have really fit legs from all the running you'll be doing," Haruhi joined in the teasing.

Yuri's second groan had everyone laughing, and the tension in the room was completely dissipated.

xxxxx

A/N: It's been so long that I've actually put the ideas in my head into words that I can't help feeling a bit lost for words during the whole process of writing this. Especially since it has more drama in it than humor. I hope you'll enjoy it, and please read my message at the top!


	8. Yuri

Soon after everyone had left the room so that Yuri could get a good rest without being disturbed, there was a soft click as the door handle was turned and a small face peeked around the edge of the door. Yuri, who had woken up from a light doze at the sound, lifted his good arm and waggled his fingers slightly in greeting. It was too much effort to turn his head to look at the intruder of his peace, but he didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

He lifted his eyes up to meet the blue-black eyes of the child that sat down on the high back chair that he had previously occupied. Both sat in silence while Kyoru studied the arm that was wounded from his seat. Yuri was about to doze off again when he heard a slight rustling and opened his eyes to find Kyoru leaning over him, face fractions of an inch away from his wound, eyebrows furrowed in concentration or worry, Yuri couldn't tell.

The child's behaviour was unusual and Yuri felt a growing sense of apprehension gnawing at the back of his mind. Kyoru finally turned and locked eyes with him again, slowly reaching out to point at the padded spot on his arm.

"It cut a bit of your muscle," he said matter of factly. "You need to go to a hospital."

Yuri leaned his head back on a pillow and sighed tiredly.

"Can't you fix it?" He asked hopefully. There was no reply from the child for some time, causing Yuri to force his head up again to see what he was doing. Kyoru had travelled further along the length of the sofa and was now studying the other's hand. He carefully lifted Yuri's hand, supporting it by the palms of his hands.

"Bend them," he said, his voice still chillingly quiet and calm. Yuri did as he was told, knowing from past events that when the boy was in his current state that it was no use questioning his requests. The pain shot through his arm and announced itself dramatically in the base of his spine. He moaned, and collapsed against the sofa, the will to move flattened out of him. The effort it took to move his fingers had exhausted him and he could feel shivers raking his body. He felt his mind get a bit fuzzy and willed himself to not succumb to the blackness that threatened to envelope him. Forcing his eyelids apart for a split second, all he managed to sense through the dense fog that settled down around him was Kyoru kneeling beside him, hands poised over the stitched wound on his arm. Then he gave up the fight.

**XXX **

After the escapades of the night, everyone had drifted off to their own rooms not long after they left Yuri, exhausted. There was one person, though, who although was exhausted as the rest, could not fall asleep.

The scene between Haruhi and that girl called Raven seemed to be stuck on replay in his mind as he thought of what Ace had said about her. She seemed like someone who could be familiar. In the darkness of the foreign room he was able to admit that he was slightly disturbed by what Haruhi and Ace had done to her. There was something almost dear about her, something that he couldn't grasp, that made him feel slightly defensive about her. Maybe it was the way her eyes flashed when she was angry. Her eyes were so… expressive.

He could hardly believe that she was a trained killer, not with the way her eyes seemed to give away every single thought that passed through her mind. He had studied her in that room while she had lain there seemingly nonchalant, but he saw it in her eyes. Eyes that were a bright, almost steely shade of silver that seemed to change density when there was a change of light. He saw the fear there, the worry, the guilt. He knew, without a doubt, that Yuri meant more to her than she dared show.

Annoyed at the insistence of his mind in carrying out heavy duty activity while he desperately wanted sleep, he sat up and slid out of bed quietly, not wanting to wake the other person who shared the bed. He grabbed a jacket that had been hung on the back of a chair and made his way quietly across the room. He held his breath when he turned the handle of the door, relieved to find that it opened soundlessly. He slipped outside and shrugged into the jacket, making his way slowly along the dim corridors. Finally, he found himself in the dining hall and walked across to the glass doors that opened out to the garden that was drenched in moonlight.

He walked out to a small tree that offered him slight shelter from the briskness of the wind without blocking out the night sky. There, he collapsed onto his back, stretched himself out and stared at the countless blinking stars that dotted his view.

He lay there for what seemed like hours, his mind running at warp speed, and him just going along for the ride. He stared unseeing at the sky and the rustling leaves above him while he followed the multiple threads of thought that ran through his brain. He wondered at how he could be so sure of the emotions and thoughts that seemed to parade through the brilliant silver eyes that belonged to the raven-haired girl. No one else seemed to notice much besides what she physically projected. No one seemed to want to look beyond the surface of her exterior.

She probably preferred it like that, he mused. No one would like it if they were told that their eyes really were windows into their souls, and that everything that they thought private was in fact as public and as easy to spot as a wolf in a pack of sheep. The soft thud of something heavy on the ground caught his attention and he looked up just in time to see a silhouette of a person turn away from him.

"Wait," he called out before his mind registered what he was doing. The person froze, evidently unsure what to do. He decided that it was a night made for sharing.

"If you don't bother me, I won't bother you," he said almost softly. He knew that the wind and the night would carry his words. This time the person turned around to him slightly. He lay there waiting, propped up on his elbows, and watched them struggle until the other finally made a decision and trudged almost unwillingly over to where he was and plopped down next to him. The face that turned to him was hidden in a hood and the moon was against their back, but he had seen that jacket just a few hours earlier and had no doubt who it was.

He flashed his most charming smile at his companion and lay back down again, folding his hands behind his head to act as a cushion against the hard earth. His eyes drifted shut as he picked up from where his mind had left off earlier. Shortly after, he was vaguely aware of the other stretching out their body too, and let a small smile drift across his face.

**XXX **

She hadn't meant for it to happen. They were all being overdramatic and a little bit more than ridiculous. Raven was half sure that it was just an act to make her feel bad. But she had told the truth that he hadn't been her target. They should all know that. She would never, ever, upon her very soul, want to harm him.

He was all she had.

It was his own fault for moving so much. It would have been better if he had not sensed the man behind him at the last second and tried to turn around to block it, or the knife would have hit home. Albeit, the knife still embedded itself solidly in the man's chest, but not before slicing through Yuri's arm first.

She ignored the nagging pain that ate at her heart when she thought of how deep that wound had looked.

Raven didn't say it out loud for fear of being yelled at even more than she'd already been, but the wound looked like it was deep enough to have sliced through muscle. That would have explained the intensity of pain that Yuri felt. If it was just a flesh wound he would have shrugged it off. He wouldn't be pale and exhausted just from that, since there wasn't really much blood loss.

Or maybe that was an act too.

Raven sat up suddenly in bed. Guilt and anger swam around in her head and lying still in the dark only served to make it all worse. She tossed back the bed sheets and stood, reaching for the first article of clothing she felt on the foot of her bed and stuffed her arms through the sleeves. She zipped herself in almost viciously and tugged the hood up over her head. Careful not to make too much noise, she opened her door slowly and peeped out into the corridor, not really expecting to see anyone.

As she assumed, the place was deserted and dark, but for the light that shone from the light fixtures of the walls that were too dim to be of much use. Raven passed out into the corridor and walked down familiar steps and memorized paths until she found herself in the gardens outside the dining hall. She stood just beyond the door for a while, lost in thought as her eyes took in the fluttering leaves of the plants, and her keen hearing picked up the rustle and hush of nature.

Iceland had been a bad idea. She had done that mission to get away from all the people she loved and cherished, a reason she would never admit to, but one that she believed the others already knew. She was not good with displaying emotion, but they had known her for so long that it hardly mattered. They could see right through her.

When her spine started to feel uncomfortable from the position that she held, she took a leisurely walk to her favourite tree. It was the perfect kind of tree to lie under, there was enough shade that in the daytime it kept out the sun and the wind at night, but it was bare enough to let in a view of the sky.

She was so lost in thought that she was only a few meters away from her tree when she realized that there was someone else there before her. The anger in her head almost spilled over at the sight of the intruder but she shook herself out of it, knowing it was irrational to be upset over a spot under a tree. There were plenty more trees around that she could lie under. She was turning to leave when he called out, making her freeze. She didn't want to have to share her space with someone else, but she didn't have the energy to find some other place to lie and watch the sky.

"If you don't bother me, I won't bother you," he said, as though he could read her mind. His voice was so soft, the words barely making it to her ears. Without realizing it, she turned slightly in his direction, her body having made its decision before her mind had run its course. Finally, she turned completely and walked heavily over to where he lay stretched out, propped up on his elbows and his upper body hidden in the shade of the tree. She wanted it to be completely obvious that she didn't enjoy having to share what she considered her private space with anyone else. She sat down and stared at his face, eyes exploring his upturned face, safe in the knowledge that he couldn't see her because the light was against her back and the hood covered her head.

She had seen him earlier in the room along with a gang of five other boys. She didn't know them by names yet, but she had a pretty good idea who he was, their names were hardly anonymous. Raven was surprised when he suddenly grinned at her, and resisted the urge to reach up and check her hood. Those golden eyes had seemed to have pierced through the dark and _seen _her. A shiver ran down her spine, she had never been seen when she didn't want to be.

Though she expected him to try and make petty conversation, he held true to his word and just lay back down and continued what he had been doing before she had appeared. Minutes later, she too, cautiously lay down, biting on her tongue to stop the slight sigh of satisfaction as her spine was supported by the solidness of the ground and the softer grass.

**XXX **

The first thing he noticed when he woke up was that he wasn't lying on leather anymore. He was lying on a bed - his bed, as he confirmed when he opened his eyes and registered his surroundings. Yuri tried to sit up, but the pain in his arm prevented him from moving much. He gave up and craned his neck around his room, trying to make out the shadows in the dimness. There was no light save from the slight parting in the curtains. From that he could tell that it was morning and that he had probably been out a day, if the sluggish movements of his muscles were anything to judge by.

He caught sight of the small form Kyoru curled up on the sofa that sat against the wall that was across from Yuri's bed. At the rustle of bed sheets, the small form uncurled itself and got off the sofa. Eyes wide open as though he had not slept at all, Kyoru perched himself on the other side of the massive bed and smiled at Yuri.

"You're feeling better." Again, with such surety, as though he could read the other's mind. Yuri was about to refute his comment because there sure as hell was a lot of pain when he tried to sit up. However, he lost the words when he instinctively tried to move his arm and realized that it did in fact, feel better. Much better.

Yuri beamed at the child and reached out with his good arm, "I feel good enough for a hug." He grinned when the boy leaned over and wrapped his tiny arms around Yuri's neck.

"I'm glad," he whispered.


	9. Another Host?

'Strange' didn't even begin to cover it.

While the weekend spent at Haruhi's mansion was definitely nothing less than strange, it was stranger still to see their rookie back in the role of the resident pauper. True, she could not risk letting herself be exposed, and she really didn't seem to mind doing the chores, but there was a strange feeling of discontent among her fellow hosts. The urge to rush forward and present themselves as assistants had never felt quite as overwhelming as it did that Monday after their short stay with Haruhi. And the oddness of their actions didn't really register with them until one of the regulars had commented when the twins had rushed over to take an empty pot off Haruhi's hands, insisting on refilling it for her and running off, leaving the latter staring after them, flabbergasted. It was at this point that Kyouya had stepped in and explained – quite charmingly- that Haruhi was feeling unwell, and as she was a part of their 'family', the other Hosts were just looking out for her. Of course, this sparked the interest of their customers who then bombarded Haruhi with questions regarding her disappearance from club activities the previous week. The glare Haruhi tossed at Kyouya was scathing, to say the least.

It was in the middle of the week following the excitement at the Brooks' home that the Host Club received an unexpected guest. While there had been no more dangerous encounters for the heir to the Brook's fortune, the Host Club had played it safe, making sure that she was not left completely alone, even on school grounds. Though Haruhi complained about the lack of privacy, she could not get any of her friends to back down, and had to resign herself to being accompanied even to the door of the girl's restroom. The solution to this situation was a simple one, though not necessarily welcome.

It was a rather chilly day, yet the Host Club was as cheerful as ever, and had even planned a carnival theme for the day. The laughter and excited squeals of their patrons as they attempted to win some absurd plush toy by tossing darts at balloons and other equally commoner-esque games drowned out the roar of thunder that heralded the approaching thunderstorm. So it was no wonder that no one noticed the door to their paradise open, nor did they notice the small sized brunette who stepped into the room until the door closed with an audible click. Only then did the girls close to the door turn around and stare at the figure that stood there, unsure. Even though this was not the first time any of the girls who frequented the Host Club had seen a commoner girl (they had just seen one merely a week ago), it was safe to say that many of them were starting to question if the commoners on the other side of their world were really all so gorgeous. They probably were not, but when their only two encounters with girls of common descent were with extremely outstanding specimens, their doubt was justified.

The excitement did not die away, but there was an obvious hush that fell over most of those close to the entrance, as curious eyes turned towards the creature that had invaded their abode. The first sign of her obvious lack of money was that she wasn't in the standard puffy yellow uniform assigned to all the girls at Ouran. Secondly, although she was dressed stylishly - in distressed jeans and a white fringed halter top - it was evident to the discerning eye that her clothes were far from the best of quality, and thirdly, put quite frankly, she just looked completely uncomfortable and out of place. Past those facts, it was undeniable that she was more than easy on the eyes – steely gray eyes, lusciously thick, jet black hair (Yes, there was envy. A lot of it.), and a body that a number of the other girls in the room would be willing to die for.

Not waiting for a response from any of the hosts who had yet to notice her presence, she turned to the nearest girl, a ginger who had been attempting to throw hoops.

"Is Haruhi in here?" The newcomer asked shyly, her eyes meeting momentarily with the other as she smiled sweetly. Nodding dumbly, the ginger pointed towards a table which sat a couple of girls and a certain brunette host. Sending the ginger another sweet smile with a nod of thanks, Raven glided over to the table that had been pointed out to her, conscious of all the glances that she drew along the way. Haruhi was oblivious to what was happening around her, and was trying hard to fish something out of a tub of water with a tiny hook. She nearly succeeded when her world suddenly went black.

She reached up and tried to tug down the hands covering her eyes, but they didn't budge.

"Guess who," there was a soft whisper next to her ear, a voice that she couldn't fail to recognize.

"Raven? Is that you?" She tugged once more on the hands, pulling them away and turning around to see Raven grinning at her.

"I've been wanting to see where you hung out when you weren't at home." Raven said, looking around the room in awe. "This place is cool."

"Raven, what are you doing here?" Haruhi asked, looking slightly perturbed.

"Yuri told me you were here."She replied, eyes still travelling around the room.

"Haruhi, who is this?" Haruhi smiled apologetically at the girl eyeing Raven suspiciously.

"Ah, where are my manners, this is Raven," she said, laughing sheepishly.

"I'm a friend of Haruhi's from middle school," Raven cut in. She offered her hand and smiled charmingly at the girl who took it, looking rather wonderstruck.

"It's nice to meet you!"

**X****xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Did Yuri send you here?" Haruhi asked from where she sat on the sofa. Club activities had ended earlier, and the hosts had just finished sending off a horde of extremely excited girls. The appearance of one of Haruhi's childhood friends had spurred a torrent of questions regarding Haruhi's past, her favourite foods, her favourite drinks, and all sorts of other inane things, not to mention requests for her childhood pictures. The announcement by the resident King that the Host Club was closing for the day was met with many disappointed moans and complaints, but the customers were promised another interview with Raven at a later date. Many of them seemed to have developed a sort of fondness for Raven herself, and had inquired as to the type of shampoo and conditioner that she used, among other things. She was exhausted from all the smiling she had done.

"Yes and no," came her reply. "He didn't explicitly say that he wanted me here with you, but since you've been complaining about having that bunch -" she nodded her head towards where the other Hosts were, "– following you around, we figured that it'd be better if it were me."

"Great. Now instead of just having them around, you'll be shadowing my every move."Haruhi collapsed back against the armrest, and let out a sigh. "How is that any better? Plus you can't just sit here while I'm hosting. Did you see their reaction towards you? You'd just cause another commotion."

"Well then, why don't I join you?" Raven asked coolly. Haruhi glanced at her.

"Pardon me?" She asked.

"Why don't I become a host too?"


End file.
